Durham to launch centre for Catholic studies

Durham University and the Roman Catholic church are to launch the first centre for Catholic studies at a secular UK university.

The centre, announced yesterday, will include the UK's first endowed chair of Catholic theology at a non-religious institution.

Funding for the centre and the Bede chair of Catholic theology has been raised through donations from the diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, spearheaded by the late Right Rev Kevin Dunn, who died on Saturday, two religious orders and the Ballinger Trust, set up in honour of a local philanthropist.

For its part the university will fund a lectureship in Catholic studies to support the centre and will contribute £10,000 over three years as "seed money" for the project. It will also help fund conferences at the institution.

The university hopes to become a world-class centre for Catholic theology and is looking for a "leading Roman Catholic scholar" to become the first holder of the Bede chair. Expressions of interest have already been received from around the world and the university hopes to make an appointment by September.

The director of the centre, Dr Paul Murray, said the centre would provide "the space" for Catholicism to be rigorously examined in a public setting, something that is important for all religions.

He said: "It is for the good of all when religious traditions are brought into serious focus alongside each other and in dialogue with all the scholarly resources and diverse disciplinary expertise that the public university affords.

"One of [the Catholic church's] weaknesses is providing the space where the whole body can think through with honesty what it means to live the Catholic tradition with creativity and integrity in the contemporary world."

The university's vice-chancellor, Prof Chris Higgins, said the centre was "an innovative move which has the potential to serve widely".